Savior
by Night Vale Secret Police
Summary: Empathy is a weakness both the God of Mischief and S.H.I.E.L.D. understands. They use this to their advantage by using Agent Thames. But will she meet to their expectations in this mission as an Avenger or as another soul needing to be saved?
1. Randy's Doughnut Shop

_un-edited_

I own nothing except my OC. I'm too poor to buy Marvel, so all rights to them. Good for them.

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**Chapter One: Randy's Doughnut Shop**

The sun shone brightly over the desert-like town. Heat waves reflected from the sun onto the paved roads and roofs of buildings even as the young star slowly started setting. The whole town started blending in with the orange and golden hues the sun was expressing. The roads were empty of cars and trucks and the only moving beings that could be seen for miles around were two people who sat casually against the sign of a doughnut shop.

"This is boring," the first voice said to her companion as she continued munching on her normal vanilla-glazed doughnut.

Her companion sipped on his can of Coke, his eyes protected by his shades from the light radiating in intensity from the sun. He shrugged and remained in his position, leaning against the inside of the big, plastic doughnut. "We could have just finished the mission Coulson had assigned us today, but _no_. You wanted to know what the best doughnuts in America tasted like. So, being the _awfully_ good friend I am, I brought you here on instinct," he said, taking a deep sigh afterwards.

Karen looked towards Tony through her own pair of sunglasses and her jaw tightened. She looked away with the seriousness she usually wore on her face. "I'm English. Don't blame me if I just wanted to avoid the actual _moving_ _around _and wanted a taste of American cuisine," Karen retorted, finishing her doughnut in one big bite.

"Oh Kaz, if you wanted to know what real American tastes like, you should-,"

"If you were implying me to suck Steve's cock, then no, that's not the part of America I wanted to get a taste of," Karen said casually, her eyes sticking to the landscape of deserts outside the small town in New Mexico.

Tony lifted his shades down and perked an eyebrow up. A smirk grew on his face and replaced his shades on the top of his head. Crossing his arms over his shining blue arc reactor, he leaned back and looked at Karen who watched the sun set behind the rolling dunes of sand.

Karen suddenly turned her head downwards. Beneath the 'Randy's Doughnut Shop' sign stood Director Nick Fury and Agent Phil Coulson. Fury had a scowl on his face as Phil stood behind him, squinting through the hot desert air.

"We've got doughnuts up here if you like!" Tony shouted below, holding up another bag of doughnuts that they had bought apart from the first bag of doughnuts they had already finished.

Fury shook his head in disappointment. He then looked back up the high sign and glared at the both of them. "Come down here before I get your ass down here myself," he said in a threatening tone. His one good eye stared at them impatiently. Karen rose her hands up in mock protest all the while keeping her resting face on as Tony started climbing down the sign.

While Tony climbed down the pole, Karen concentrated on reaching the floor and her figure shimmered like mist. She disappeared and reappeared on the ground floor in front of Fury and Coulson within seconds before Tony could have even reached the ground.

"What case is it this time, Fury?" Karen asked as she placed her hands inside her back pockets. Tony eventually reached the ground and walked towards Fury as he started talking.

"As you recall from yesterday, we had finally captured Thor's brother, Loki. In trying to find out how to defeat him and stop him from taking over, we tried finding ways of weakening him to at least decelerate his ability to call his army up and fight. In one of our meetings, Thor thought of something that we think might stop him," Fury informed.

"If I may ask,who is 'we' exactly? I don't remember going to that meeting," Tony said, his eyebrows up in a questioning way.

Karen looked at Tony behind her glasses and said fluently, "You never take meetings seriously, seeing that your egotistical persona gives you some right to downright ignore the team most of the time. Even if I wasn't there in the meeting myself, I could tell you hadn't attended the meeting. In the morning, Natasha and Steve looked at you annoyed. Though they usually _are_ annoyed at you-,"

"Again with the Sherlock shit, Kaz! This is America! Drink coffee for once and pour out the tea," Tony exasperated jokingly, smiling at Karen's way of talking.

Karen chuckled and put her shades in her back pocket. "Remember, I'm still a genius even without my telekinetic and telepathic powers. You see Anthony; I used common sense back there, something I don't see very commonly in you, obviously."

Phil chuckled and Fury smirked at Tony who couldn't help but plant an amused smile across his face at the level of sassiness his English friend had.

"I think you-,"

"Never agreed to that, Fury," Karen said before Fury could finish, her attention now fully towards him. Her face had the ghost of a smirk and she stared at Fury dead in the eye. "I never said 'yes' to that proposition." Her eyes glowed amber every time she read someone's mind or was planting thoughts in them that could easily madden them to death. Karen's eyes had just done so.

"We all agreed to it-,"

"Except for Banner, isn't it?" Karen asked, still swimming in Fury's mind to see if there was any other information she could attain. But Fury was hard to read, and manipulate. Karen gave up with the rest of her searching after enough wandering in the Spy's mind.

Fury exhaled deeply. "Even if you two opposed, counting Banner as well, it's still 6 to 3 in the option."

Tony held up a finger and said, "Hello, person with no telekinetic powers here. What _are_ you guys talking about?"

Karen turned to Tony and through gritted teeth, she said, "The want me to weaken Loki by making him fall in love with me."

Knowing exactly what his reaction was going to be, Karen stepped aside as Tony blurted out in fits of laughter. He held his sides and eventually fell down due to air loss. Karen stared at Tony, irritated. She flicked her wrist and the laws physics bent to her will, getting Tony to stand up again.

"Oh, you never stop making me laugh, Kaz," Tony said, trying to calm himself down only to start laughing again.

Karen pursed her lips and finally turned to Fury and Phil. By then, the sun had already disappeared from the distance and the sky glittered with stars as orange mixed with blue, blue with purple, and purple with night. She looked at the stars for a moment before looking back at the three men and disappearing like smoke.

Karen opened her eyes once more and found herself in the Avenger's conference room, where Natasha, Steve, Thor and Bruce were sitting at. Karen took the seat next to Bruce's and decided to listen to the conversation at hand between three of them. She wasn't fond of talking unless it was worth her breath.

"Thames, did Fury debrief you on the task yet?" Steve asked Karen as she settled herself in her seat.

Karen looked towards Steve and nodded. "I'm not complaining or anything, but why the bloody hell must it be me and not you Nat?" she asked.

Natasha shrugged and crossed her arms, "Fury just thought you could handle the situation better than me."

Thor then entered the conversation by saying to Karen, "Lady Thames, bring my brother back."

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**AN:** Well, there goes the first chapter in Savior. Weird way to start out the story, but that's the best I could muster from my ill-experienced time as a fanfiction writer. I hope you guys like it and endure all that I could pour out onto this fic! Edited updates will come out soon, I guess.


	2. Not Very Low-Keyed

_un-edited_

Oh look, you're reading this. Greetings loved ones.

Love, Marvel's rights and Becca's OC

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**Chapter Two: Not Very Low-Keyed**

Karen looked at the Asgardian confusedly. What did he mean by bring Loki back? Back from what? Was it like Asgardian poetry in the form of asking for help? Questions are tedious, but one must ask themselves these kinds of questions if one finds themselves in these kinds of situations.

Other than the fact she saw that Loki needing help with sorting out his priorities, she saw no other form of assistance she could possibly give to the God of Mischief.

"What do you mean by that Thor?" asked Bruce cautiously before the doors to entrance slid open automatically and Tony, Phil, and Fury walked in the room. Tony walked to the nearest chair he could reach and casually propped his feet on the table, placing his arms behind his head and against the chair.

Fury walked to the front of the assembly table and looked at each one of the Avengers, his gaze stopping at Karen.

_'It's time, Thames.' _Fury said in his mind, knowing that Karen would have been able to read it. Karen's face contorted in worry. But she mentally slapped herself. She'd experienced worse things than make a god fall in love with her. But at that, she realized she didn't exactly know how to make anyone fall in love with her in general…

"How exactly do I do this? I don't exactly know how to do this type of thing- you know what? You really should have chosen Agent Romanoff for this mission," Karen finished matter-of-factly.

Fury chuckled and answered, "I don't want you to seduce him, if that was what you were implying. I want him to legitimately love you. I want him to weaken just by mentioning your name. Your mission is to make yourself the most important thing in the universe to him; more important than his quest to conquer Earth. You're nothing to him until you're everything."

Karen's eyes widened and she felt uncomfortable. She felt the stares of all her co-workers glued on her. Karen took a deep breath. Her heart rate had quickened and it became a little hard for her to breathe. She couldn't have a panic attack. Not now. She closed her eyes tightly for a moment before opening them back and standing up from her seat. She made to walk out of the door, but heard the footsteps of another person catching up behind her.

"You okay, Kaz?" asked Bruce's fond voice as he walked next to Karen who intended to change her clothes into something else more professional besides a loose white t-shirt slipped under green skinny jeans. They took a turn and reached the door to the locker room where Karen slipped in. Bruce waited for her until she got out and was fully redressed.

She had a pair of skinny blue jeggings with proper purple shirt and her favorite black leather jacket. A simple metallic feather necklace dangled from her neck as she kept her hair down. After adjusting the sleeves of her leather jacket a bit, she looked at Bruce who smiled at Karen fondly. Karen returned the smile as they walked down the corridor where Loki's glass cage was. Tony and Thor were waiting for them in front of the entrance.

"Whoa, looking nice, Kaz!" Tony mocked, only to start snickering and have Karen glare at him.

When Karen faced Thor, he gave her a different jive. He looked at her through pleading eyes as the rest of his face stayed emotionless. She didn't like reading the minds of those she actually respected, but Thor looked like he wanted her to read his mind.

_'Save my brother,'_ Thor thought.

Karen looked at him confusingly and asked_, 'What do you mean?'_

_ 'Save my brother while there's still something left to save.'_

_ 'Save him from what, Thor?'_

_ 'Himself.'_

Karen squinted at Thor, asking herself if she had heard him correctly. Saving someone from themselves is nearly physically impossible and nearly mentally improbable. Karen shook her head and sighed. She might have the powers of a god, but she certainly will never have the same mind-set as one.

Thor nodded at Karen assuredly and walked away, Tony following him as he started bickering to Thor about something called 'shawarma'.

Karen opened her mouth as if to say something to herself, but pursed her lips together in the end. Bruce eyed Karen suspiciously and finally opened his mouth, "What were you talking about with Thor? Can't really tell you go all telekinetic."

Karen turned to Bruce and smiled in assurance to prove nothing was wrong. "He just wanted to tell me to save Loki from himself, whatever that means," Karen said, dismissing the idea as if its importance didn't exist.

Bruce eyed Karen confusedly, but his eyes soon had realization read all over it. He looked at Karen again, a look of concern now washed upon his face.

"Remember, Thames. Your job is to make him fall for you, not you for him. You're like a little sister to me and if anything happens-,"

"I'll be fine, Banner," Karen said, hugging him tightly. The only person she allowed herself to show affection towards was Banner: one of the few people that she actually considered as real family. And hugging someone was as close to external and internal affection she could manage. She drew a shaky breath, knowing that she would have to do more than that with Loki.

Karen let go of Banner hesitantly and knit her eyes together in worry. Her breathing started quickening once more and tears started welling up in her eyes. No, not another panic attack; she can't afford to fail because of an attack that happened to hit her right before an important mission. She can't afford to fail and get kicked out of the streets because of not being able to pay the rent. She closed her eyes tightly once more. This time, she felt Bruce cup her face gently as she started relaxing from the fond touch.

Karen opened her eyes. Bruce looked at her and let go of her face. He then took her hands and smiled caringly at her in which she returned the friendly gesture back.

"You can do this, Kaz," he said, letting go of her and walking away. "See you later," Bruce called back as he walked to the opposite end of the hall and took a turn.

"I hope I can," Karen muttered towards Bruce. She took a deep breath and stood in front of the entrance to the room that held Loki and his cell. It opened smoothly for her and strode in. All feeling of worry washed away from her face. She walked in the room where the cage was held and observed the prisoner.

She couldn't help but notice his defined stature as kept his back towards her. He was embodying a man who had once known what love was; now a man trapped in his own blind goals. Vengeance and deceit could be read just by the way he stood. How was Karen going to make _that_ fall in love with her?

Whilst eyeing Loki, he turned his head around and scowled at Karen. "No one can meagerly sneak upon me," Loki growled at Karen, turning his head back to face the glass wall once more. Karen simply glared at him and teleported into the god's cage.

Loki turned around, quite surprised at how the girl got in there. But his expression returned to the scowl he had worn since Karen had first entered the cell room.

He walked towards her, eyeing Karen through flaring emerald eyes. A sly smile grew on his face when he remembered who she was from what Barton had told him. "Karen McCallister-Thames... Kaz... K.T. ... I've heard a lot about you from Agent Barton," he said, observing the woman up and down.

"No one knows me, Loki. You shouldn't eat up the lies served to you on a silver platter," Karen said calmly, glaring at Loki dead in the eye. Even with all the mental issues she had to endure, Karen's ability to intimidate those she associated with never faltered.

But the power of intimidation obviously wasn't going to work on Loki.

Karen sighed and walked to the edge of the glass cage, leaning on the glossy surface with crossed arms and legs.

Loki chuckled to himself and looked at Karen through menacing eyes. Her auburn hair tossed to the side as she looked back with soft hazel eyes that could rival to that of the color of the sea. She certainly had an air uniqueness that made her stand out. But through her looks, Loki saw pain and paranoia; wit and cunning; an air of individuality that he didn't see in everyone else. She was different. It was okay.

"Barton was right about you. You seem so confident and cunning externally, but internally, that's a different story. He's told me all about you and your weaknesses. I know exactly how to burn your heart out, including each one of your team members," Loki threatened as he walked towards Karen and towered over her tall frame.

Karen smirked to herself as she looked past Loki's figure. "It's hard to burn something that's already been charred to ash," she muttered.

Loki took a step back and looked at Karen over once more. He noticed her glance at him, her smirk never leaving her face. She slowly slid down against the wall so she could sit down and lean her head against the cage. She brought her knees up and rested her arms on them. As she did so, she closed her eyes as she rested against the glass.

Loki looked confusedly and asked, "What then is the purpose of your being here?"

Karen looked up at Loki, her face now emotionless. She remained in her position as she answered, "I have no bloody idea why." She closed her eyes once more as she continued resting. Her answer was quite close to the truth though. Karen seriously did not know why she was ever a choice for this kind of assignment.

Loki looked at her questioningly before his mind started burning. He grabbed his head and looked at where Karen was, only to not see her there anymore. He turned around to see Karen, her hazel eyes now glowing bright amber. Her face twitched as she tried to read off the God of Mischief's mind.

Beads of sweat started showing on her contorted face as her attempts in getting into the god's mind failed. Her heart pulsed quickly and soon, she had to use to cage's wall to support herself. Of course Loki's mind could to reject her telekinesis.

"Get out of my mind," Loki ordered through clenched jaws.

Karen glowered at Loki as he strolled towards her shriveled stature. Her face contorted in pain as it was Loki's turn to smirk. She shook her head in forfeit and stopped her attempts in breaking into his mind. She dropped to the floor, her face glistening with sweat. She leaned her head against the glass as she glared at him through gritted teeth.

Loki scoffed, "Did you actually think you could break into the mind of the greatest sorcerer that's ever lived?"

"It was worth a try, _Merlin_," Karen said, shrugging off vaunt. She put her hand out towards her and tightened her arm muscles before a brown paper bag materialized in her grip like smoke. She smiled weakly as she looked into the brown bag that she had teleported, most likely coming from Tony's grasp seconds before.

She looked towards the hidden camera that was hidden in the corner of the cage and held up a vanilla glazed doughnut. "Cheers," she said, making a toast as a sly grin spread across her face. Karen then returned her attention towards the doughnut and took a bite out of it.

"What is that?" Loki asked curiously, keeping a look of bitterness on his face.

Karen looked up as she took another bite of the doughnut. "It is but a simple American pastry that is, unfortunately, not very common from where I come from. It wasn't that long ago when I first had a bite out of this, honestly," Karen stated as she took another bite out of her own doughnut.

Loki knitted his eyes together as he stared at the piece of bread covered in glazed sugar.

Karen saw Loki's expression and sighed. She took another doughnut out and handed it to him. "It's a waste if I can't finish this all. I'm quite fond of my current figure," she simply said, finally finishing her doughnut. She was about to grab another before the door to the holding cell slid open and the Steve Rogers trudged in.

"Fury just wanted me to inform you you're going to have to spend the night in there," he said in all seriousness.

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**AN: **Ayyyy did you see what I did there? *slaps knee in amusement*

Loki with doughnuts, how adorable! Ok, yeah. That's all I have to say. I'll edit these chapters as I reread them, so bear with me on any grammatical mistakes and obnoxiously stupid dialogues, eh.

Also, and I have noticed that some people skip the next chapter, aka "Questions". It's not a chapter in which I ask questions because that would be plain stupid and obnoxious. So read the next chapter if you don't want to miss any Koki moments... yes, I have made a ship name for these cuties.


	3. Questions

_un-edited_

This is short... it's still Marvel's rights though.

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**Chapter Three: Questions**

"Um, can you say that again? My ears couldn't really process the absolute rubbish you just uttered," Karen said, scoffing at Fury's seemingly ridiculous tactics.

"Look, if you want to complain, complain to Fury. I'm just the messenger here," retorted Steve, his eyebrow furrowing in annoyance.

Karen glared at him as Steve exhaled amusedly, leaving the room in a confident stride.

"You seem to have something against the Man Out of Time," Loki said, walking towards Karen and sitting next to her in a reasonable distance. "Do tell," he said, a sly smile tugging at his lips. He awaited Karen's answer, longing to know what type of problems the Avengers could ever have among themselves.

Karen sighed and avoided Loki's gaze for a while before her attention returned to Loki. "It's complicated, not even I could understand the feud between us," she muttered under her breath.

"Explain," Loki said slowly, anxious in wanting to know what was between this telekinetic and the Super Soldier.

Karen drew a shaky breathe and stated, "Explaining this is like explaining why two plus two equals four. You _know _that it equals four; the explanation to _why _it equals four is the hard part. But I guess if I were to put our relationship into words, I'd think he's just too patriotic and cliché while he thinks my tactics to defeating the bad guys are immoral and '_a threat to civilians_'." She laughed a breathy laugh and continued, "He always takes the way the enemy expects us to take, the hard way. To whoever proclaimed 'If it's hard, it's most likely you're on the right path. And if it's easy, you're doing it all wrong,' I gag on their poor use of knowledge. What's most _likely_ is that if you work hard for a good cause, it's all for naught in the end. So why not just speed it up by taking the risky path and get it over with?"

Loki looked at Karen as she looked across the glass cage. For a mortal, he quite admired the way she thought. Loki mentally shook himself head as to not arouse suspicion from Karen or the many cameras staring at them. He can't possibly be thinking or feeling anything at all; his heart was too numb from the coldness that had already overtaken the rest of his soul.

"One time," Karen continued, snapping Loki from his thoughts, "Steve and I had a task assigned for the both of us. We were finding a mutant murderer that should never get caught by the American government for fear of getting it 'observed for the good of man'. We eventually faced the murderer in a fight near Lawrence, Kansas. I remembered Fury saying he wanted that man dead or alive, it didn't matter. The guy was getting on my nerves and I decided to split his skull. I don't know why Steve got so worked up about _that_. He asked me if I was ever going to use my common sense in that mission. Obviously my version of common sense was different from his," she muttered.

Loki couldn't help but try to hide a smile in his amusement. Realization soon struck him on what he did and quickly got up from the floor and walked to the opposite side of the cage, staring at what lied beyond the glass.

Karen had noticed Loki's small reaction to her little bedtime story. She grinned, looking down and remembering it as if it were yesterday. Karen remembered trying to drag the carcass in the body bag by herself as Steve bickered to her about having to find a way to explain to Fury how and why their target died.

_"He said dead or alive. I assumed Fury would have fancied him dead in the end anyway,"_ Karen had retorted to Steve as he continued shouting at her on what they should have done while she dragged the body back to the car.

Karen grinned at the memory, her smile soon disappearing as her mind forced her to dive deeper into the ocean full of memories. This is why she avoided remembering things in her long-term past; it forced her to remember the rest.

It was a perk of being able to read and control people's minds: she couldn't control her own.

She winced as images from her unfortunate adolescence and childhood years streamed into her train of thought. When moments like this happen to her, she couldn't recover quickly enough from the anxiety that consumed her body every time she relived those traumatic experiences. Karen shut her eyes tightly, taking deep, shaky breaths as she grasped her head.

Loki noticed the shuffling noises coming from Karen and turned around, only to see Karen clutching her head and her eyes closed shut. It was the first time he'd seen a human in pain not coming from his own hand. He quickly strode towards Karen and kneeled down.

"Why does Fury tell you to watch over me when you can't even watch over yourself?" Loki asked her as he leaned down to get a better view on her covered face.

Karen slowly pulled her hands away from her face. Her cheeks were wet from the tears that had inadvertently skidded down her face. Instead of the soft hazel pupils Loki thought she had, he saw fully black eyes seething from trauma. She shuddered uncontrollably as her eyebrows furrowed.

Through clenched teeth and glaring black eyes, she muttered, "Rule one: Don't make me remember."

Loki eyed her confusedly and asked, "Don't make you remember what?"

"Anything that had happened to me in the past. It- it perks up my post traumatic anxiety disorder," she said with a cold stare on the floor. "So don't bring it up".

"Why can't you just remember a specific moment in your life? Surely, you can control your own thoughts?" Loki asked questioningly.

Karen stared unemotionally at Loki and her's reflection on the opposite side of the glass cage. "It's hard having PTSD. Telekinesis doesn't make it any easier. My powers are like a give and take relationship. I can control everything around me and read the minds of millions of beings all at once. The only thing I can't control is my self. The only thing that keeps me from becoming an empty vessel with rogue powers and no wisdom is pain. Pain lets me know I can still feel, which is as human as I can ever get," Karen muttered unemotionally.

She inhaled deeply and pursed her lips as if nothing had happened. Casually, Karen explained, "I take pills made from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s top chemists to calm my nerves down. But I'm only allowed to take one pill per month because it's a fatal dose to normal human beings."

"And when was the last time you have taken it?" Loki asked, still processing what she had said earlier. She certainly was different, but why did that matter so much to him?

"Three and a half weeks ago. Even if I do try to take some more pills, they won't allow me to. They think if I get an overdose and _die_, they'd be losing a very important asset. So they lock it up where I can never find it and only give it to me when it's time for me to take it in. I guess it helps, I'm getting quite attracted to the calm it gives me after a while," Karen answered, interrupting Loki's train of thought.

Loki looked at her with wondering eyes as his mind swarmed once more with various thoughts as he looked at Karen's eyes return to their original hazel hue. He scoffed thinking that a man like Fury would expect someone with Karen's disorders to handle watching over him without hurting herself. From what Barton had told him and having witnessed one of her famous fits moments before, he asked himself why Fury would add to her already many problems by making her stay with a man like him. He had no plan of escape and no wish to, so why bring her in?

"What is your true purpose for being here then? I am in no interest in escaping this homely cage," Loki said, staring at Karen's eyes .

Karen had a far-away look in her eyes as she answered, "Like I said. I don't even know myself."

"Do you even know why you joined these people in the first place?" questioned Loki.

Karen looked at him with knit eyebrows. Loki cocked an eyebrow as he waited for her to answer his question.

Karen sighed and leaned her head against the glass once more. "I'd been hurt too much to even care what the answer to that question is anymore." With that, she closed her eyes and tried to forget as much as possible. She didn't want to risk another mental attack.

Loki looked as Karen slowly dozed off, her head lying limp as wisps of her hair covered her face. Loki leaned in closer when he was certain she had fallen into a deep sleep.

"Why you, of all people?" Loki whispered questioningly as he eyed her.

His questioning gaze slowly softened as he continued looking at Karen; her chest slowly moving up and down in sync with her breathing. He decided to follow her actions, leaning his head against the glass of the cage and closing his eyes.

* * *

**AN: **Sorry if I have offended anyone in my description of the post traumatic anxiety disorder because I do not have it myself. I have generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), which is totally different but I tried describing what happens to me when my disorder perks up. Sorry again if my descriptions aren't accurate enough.

Sorry it was so short, my apologies. And if Loki was a little too OCC, it'll change soon, trust me.


	4. The Lab

_un-edited_

Writer's block and other priorities can be quite tedious sometimes, doesn't it? I'm sorry I wasn't able to update until now. I'm probably not going to be able to update this until I finish all of my projects, and you guys know how procrastination works.

* * *

**Chapter Four: The Lab**

"So how do you think Kaz is putting up with Reindeer Games?" Tony asked casually as he worked on his side of the lab.

"The gamma readings are definitely inconsistent from the salvage reports coming from the Tesseract. It might take weeks to process," Bruce said as he scanned Loki's scepter, trying to dismiss the subject Tony had brought up.

Tony sighed and replied, "If we can bypass the main frame, we can get a direct route on the homing cluster so we can clock this around… 600 teraflops." He adjusted some data on the screen in front of him, turning to Banner afterwards.

Bruce chuckled, "All I packed was a toothbrush." He walked over to another screen where he adjusted some bars on the screen according to the new data he had received from the recent scan.

Tony chuckled breathily and started strolling towards Bruce's table. "You look tired. You know, you should come by Stark Tower sometime. Top ten floors; all R and D; you'll love it, its candy land."

"Thanks, but the last time I was in New York… I kind of broke Harlem," Bruce replied.

Tony looked at Banner questioningly and said, "Funny, I'd remember if that happened. I'd have been right there to watch all the action; I never would have missed you hulking out; which I am a big fan of, by the way."

Bruce grinned and muttered, "Well, Karen kind of got the whole of New York to think it was just an earthquake for my sake."

"Impressive- speaking about Karen, what _is _it with you and KT? You mentioned that she was like a sister to you before." Tony asked as he walked around Banner's table.

Banner eyed Tony before shaking his head and sighing exasperatedly, continuing with his work.

Tony put his hands up in mock protest, "I'm just asking, Banner. You and Karen seem to relate to each other more than the rest of us. You just seem to care for her a lot, especially ever since Fury told her what to do with Loki."

"Who wouldn't," grumbled Banner as he tried to concentrate on the screen in front of him before he felt a strong wave of electricity poke him on the side. "Ow!"

Tony leaned in to observe Bruce's eyes closer, "Nothing?"

"Hey!" the voice of Steve Rogers yelled as he entered the lab and started walking towards the two geniuses. "Are you nuts?"

"Jury's down," Tony muttered as he glanced at Steve before turning back towards Bruce. "You really have got a lid on it. What's your secret? Mello jazz, bongo drums, a huge bag of weed-"

"Is everything a joke to you?" Steve interrupted.

Tony pointed at Steve with the stick that electrified Bruce and answered: "Funny things are."

"Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny. No offense, doc," Steve retorted, apologizing to Banner afterwards.

Bruce smiled awkwardly and muttered, "Yeah, yeah, yeah- it's alright. I wouldn't have come on board if I couldn't have handled… pointy things."

"You're tip-toeing big man. You need to strut," Tony said, strolling to the other side of the table.

Steve glared at him and replied, "Oh yeah, and you need to focus on the problem, Mr. Stark-"

"Do you think I'm not? Why did Fury call us and why now? The only person I know that is of any real use right now is Karen and Bruce. But Karen is inside that cage with Crazy in there. I'm not so sure about you, but Banner and I actually care about what would happen to her," Tony said, his eyes seething with annoyance as his body tensed.

Steve laughed breathily and said, "As you can tell, I am not really fond of Agent Thames, there for I do not really care what happens to her. Besides, Agent Thames can handle this situation."

"But what if she can't? What if she fails in this mission? Or worse yet; what if she falls in love with Loki himself? The girl can't control her own mind let alone her feelings," Tony argued.

All the while Tony and Steve bickered at each other, Bruce cleared his throat, his fists clenching up tighter and tighter. He didn't want to hear it anymore; all this talk on Karen. The thought of losing the only person that mattered to him twisted his brain. Of all the people Fury could have chosen for this mission, it just had to be Karen.

"Banner, are you okay?" Tony asked, breaking Banner's train of thought.

Bruce looked up at the two other men present in the room and unclenched his fists. Shaking his head, he exhaled deeply, "Look, I just need to finish all my work here and-,"

"Doctor?" Steve asked as Tony and he turned their attention towards Banner after noticing his mood change.

Bruce looked at them, his face on the verge of contorting in pain. He cleared his throat and muttered, "She can handle it. I know her; she would never let her guard down that way."

"Banner, we both know that Loki will never be able to fall in love with her. Either she might fall in love with him, or everything would be in vain. We need to say something to Fury-,"

"You think I don't know that, Stark!" Bruce screamed.

Steve and Tony took a step back by Banner's unexpected outburst. Banner realized what he had done and stepped back.

"I'm sorry, that was mean… I've been kind of cranky lately, my bad," Bruce said. He cleared his throat, "Even if we do talk to Fury now, it's too late. Karen's already in there." With that, he sighed deeply and rubbed the back of his neck as he walked out the lab.

Steve and Tony stared at Banner as his body disappeared from the walls. Steve cocked an eyebrow at Tony. Tony's mouth twitched and he strolled back to his work.

"What just happened?" Steve asked as Tony hummed to himself as he meddled with his contraptions.

Tony glanced at Steve and scoffed. "As if it's not obvious already…"

"It's obvious to you; not so obvious to me," Steve interjected as Tony slowly started getting on his nerves, again.

Tony puffed out his cheeks to exhale deeply and pointed at the direction Banner headed. "The big man has a crush."

"He's probably just acting all brotherly again," Steve said.

Tony rolled his eyes and walked towards Steve. "Did anyone tell you how S.H.I.E.L.D. had gotten to Banner in the first place?"

"They gave me a file. I didn't bother reading it through. It didn't look like it had much importance," Steve replied ignorantly.

Tony smirked and poked Steve's chest as he shoved pass Steve and leaned on the table that held Loki's scepter. He took a deep breath and rested the palms of his hands on the desk and crossed his legs. He noticed Steve's questioning look towards him and shrugged his shoulders. "The story I'm gonna tell is pretty long. I'm just making myself comfortable," he casually informed.

Steve scoffed and crossed his arms, "As if you don't do that already."

Tony's mouth twitched slightly to a smirk before clapping his hands together. "Well, it all started some time before Fury ever started thinking about the Avengers Initiative. At that same time, S.H.I.E.L.D. supposedly had a certain someone on their radar. And a quite dangerous certain someone he was. Bruce Banner; your normal gamma radiation specialist you'd usually find strolling across your neighborhood. By that time, Bruce had already attempted his experiment on gamma radiation, which was actually inspired by the same experiment that improved your new bod, Capsicle."

Steve looked at Tony annoyed, but nodded, "Continue."

"Banner tested the experiment on himself, hoping to find a way for humans to become immune to gamma radiation… But things didn't end up so well for the guy. He ended up becoming big, green, and ugly every time he became angry. The angrier he got, the stronger the Hulk became. In reality, that amount of gamma radiation _should_ have killed him," Tony added.

"So you're saying the Hulk saved his life?" Steve asked.

Tony exhaled deeply through his nose and shook his head amusedly, "That's not my point. After the Hulk had been unleashed multiple times, Fury caught his scent. Eventually, Fury decided to send someone on the field to try and get the Hulk to be unleashed at the same time bring him back to HQ unharmed. His only top assassin was off on a separate mission to stop Natasha Romanoff back then. None of the S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives had the skill and the right mind to try and unleash the Hulk. So with his options narrowed out, he only had one person in mind right for the job: Karen McCallister-Thames, the newbie operative with super-human powers."

Steve nodded his head slowly and inferred, "So K.T. and Banner's story was sort of like Romanoff's and Barton's?"

Tony scoffed and shrugged his shoulders, "Well that's probably another way you could summarize it. The thing was, they made a deal. She knew he was a genius in gamma radiation. While trying to capture him, her other motive was to make him heal her of her abilities. Don't know why she wouldn't want to keep some badass powers, but she just does. You see, the only reason why she has her powers was because of a rogue science experiment she was forced to test when she was 10. In return, she promised him a second chance in life. Their friendship blossomed from there. It was enough for Banner to cool down for a bit before he left for India to try and hide from any major organizations that were after him."

"Has Banner found a cure for Agent Thames yet?" Steve asked.

"Well obviously he hasn't," Tony answered.

Steve furrowed his eyebrows together and said, "Then how do you know Banner likes Agent Thames? He might just be trying to fulfill the favor he was given all those years ago."

"I don't know, it's just a hunch. But my hunches are usually correct," Tony said with a sly grin and turned around to meddle with Banner's tools.

Steve glared at Tony, "I don't have time for this." He made for the door until Tony's voice called from behind, "You suspect something to, huh?"

Steve turned around and looked at him questioningly, "What do you mean?"

"Why did you come in the lab in the first place?" Tony asked, not leaving his eyes on a piece of equipment he was observing.

Steve sighed and answered, "I was just passing by and I saw you trying to make Banner mad. It's my duty to keep everyone in line and protected."

Tony chuckled and put down the object he was holding only to reach out from behind and grab a bag of frozen blueberries. He started munching on one before saying, "So why were you walking down this hall in the first place? You came from the left side right?"

Steve furrowed his eyebrows and nodded slowly.

"The only place that leads up to the end of the hall if you came down from the left is the storage room. You wanna tell me why you were going there?"

"Mind your own business, Stark," Steve snapped.

Tony popped another blueberry in his mouth and said, "Hm, Steve. Hiding something from me, huh? Not a smart move."

"What do you want to know then?" Steve finally asked.

"What did you expect to find in the storage room?"

Steve opened his mouth to speak, but Tony waved him off. "I'll just find out by myself… after my decryption program finishes breaking into all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secure files."

"I'm sorry, did you say-,"

"J.A.R.V.I.S. has been running it since I hit the bridge. In a few hours, I'll know every dirty secret S.H.I.E.L.D. has ever tried to hide- blueberry?" he said, bringing the bag of blueberries in Steve's face.

"And yet you're confused on why they didn't want you around," Steve spat.

"Okay, no blueberries then," Tony said, bringing another blueberry in his mouth. "I'm not confused. I _know _I'm not. It just doesn't add up. An intelligence organization that fears intelligence? Historically, not awesome. Plus, the Tesseract is a super-battery of pure energy. Now, why would S.H.I.E.L.D. go into the energy business? Why now? I'm the only name on clean energy right now and _I_ have the ability to provide for them if they just asked nicely. Why go fetch something that a. I can give and b. would not be used except for targeted mass destruction?"

"I think Loki's trying to wind us up. This is a man who means to start a war- if we don't stay focused, he'll succeed," Steve replied as he looked at Tony sternly. "We have orders. You should follow them."

"Thus Karen's reason of presence in his holding cell right now," Tony muttered, popping another berry in his mouth.

Steve rolled his eyes, "If Loki wasn't such a threat, she wouldn't be on the Helicarrier in the first place. We both know where she truly belongs."

Tony cocked an eyebrow, "Of the people in this room- a. who's wearing the spangly outfit and b. not of use? Just tell me if anything smells funky to you, I'll be right here waiting to say 'I told you so'."

Steve glared at Tony, "Just get back to work." With that, he walked off and headed straight for the storage room, creating a smirk on Tony's lips.

* * *

**AN: **This chapter was very essential in showing some of Karen's and Bruce's history. So no, this wasn't a fill-in chapter. It was quite long for a fill-in chapter, I must say.


	5. Crawling

_un-edited_

Marvel's rights.

Most of my chapters are named after songs. This one is Crawling by Linkin Park.

* * *

**Chapter Five: Crawling**

"The girl weakens you," a familiar voice said in a harsh whisper.

Loki opened his eyes and saw that he was back on the barren rock landscape he usually found himself in when speaking to The Other. He stood up and straightened his coat, cracking his stiff joints after hours of sleeping in one position. Loki glared at the shriveled being while he twisted his wrists and snarled, "The mortal's existence isn't of much importance."

"But he senses something. He senses change in you. If this mortal tampers with our plans-,"

"She is not a threat, nor of great importance. She is nothing to me besides a mere mortal waiting to be ruled, just like her world."

The Other sneered, "He who put the scepter in your grasp knows you better than you know yourself. He knows your deepest and darkest secrets, fears… and feelings. Destroy her before it is too late."

Loki frowned, "What are you inferring?"

"You are weakening because of this mortal and He can see it. Your feelings will slowly destroy you and world domination would no longer be an option for you. You still promise Him the Tesseract. We still promise you the army. But if that woman comes to be a distraction-,"

"Love doesn't exist to me, if that was what He was assuming. I've told myself that long ago," Loki growled.

The Other slowly prowled around Loki, "Then why did you not kill her when she meagerly lay limp next to you? If she truly didn't matter to you, you should have ended her life with you bare hands right then and there."

Loki glared down The Other as his nose pointed up, "Failing Him isn't an option for me. I will use her for my own needs and dispose of her until then. I will await the army that _He_ so promises me and the Tesseract will be His in a matter of time. Patience is key to our success."

"You better be right, Asgardian. Or else," The Other said, now behind Loki. "Your pain will be the only thing you'd be longing for after He's done with you," With that, he grabbed Loki's head from the side and slammed it down with his deformed hand.

Loki shut his eyes tightly and reopened them to find himself back in the glass cage. He stared at his reflection with renewed metallic blue eyes. He grinned devilishly and stood up from his sitting position. He smirked at the camera that continued to watch his every move.

"Your new eyes don't really fit you," a sleepy voice from behind muttered.

Loki turned around and saw Karen now mildly awake, looking at him from her side of the cage. She leaned her head on the glass like before and put her knees up. Karen rested her arms on her knees and looked at Loki through half closed eyelids.

"Green suited you better," Karen said, smirking as Loki frowned at her comment.

Loki lunged at her and grabbed her from the throat. He lifted her from the ground and brought her near him, their faces just inches from each other's. Karen bit her lip and tried to pry his fingers from her neck, but no other sign of struggle was seen on her face.

Instead, she grinned and croaked, "If you were going to kill me eventually, you could have at least tried."

Loki threw her on the ground as sirens blared in the room that held his cage. Karen propped herself up with her elbows and tilted her head to the side. "Not a man of words, I see."

Loki grabbed her face and forced her to look at him straight in the eye. "I am the God of Mischief, Lies, and Deceit. You are not to address me like that, mortal," he growled.

At that moment, Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff stormed in the room, weapons at the ready. Loki looked up and gave them an innocent smile. He forced Karen up her feet and grabbed her head in both of his hands.

"I feel like escaping. Shall we, Agent Thames?" Loki whispered in her ear as Karen felt a wave of pain burst through her head.

It was worse than her past mental fits and worse than the first time the serum was injected in her body. Her eyes widened as Loki concentrated in tampering with her mind. He succeeded in entering her mind and using her telepathic ability to escape the cell. In a matter of moments, she blacked out. Natasha and Steve's yells echoed in her brain as she slipped into full unconsciousness.

Karen jolted up from her bed. She felt searing pain and clutched her head for a few moments until it died down a bit. Karen slowly opened her eyes once more to find herself in a familiar landscape. She looked down to see she was still wearing the same clothes she wore a moment before, only that her jacket hung on the settee beside her.

She sighed in relief and hesitantly stood up from her bed. Karen strolled around the room and touched everything she saw, thankful that none of her belongings had been meddled with since she had last left them. Karen stopped when she realized she didn't remember going back to her flat, especially since it was all the way in Glasgow. She yanked her door open and ran to the living room. There, she saw a sleeping Loki sprawled on the couch.

Her eyes widened and gulped when Loki suddenly smirked.

"You fancy what you see?" Loki muttered sleepily as his eyes remained closed.

Karen's breathing quickened, "How the bloody hell did you bring me back to Glasgow? And how did you know I lived here?"

"I broke into your mind, didn't I?" Loki said, his eyes now half opened and smiling amusedly at Karen's bemused expression.

Karen was about to say something before another wave of nausea hit her like a bullet. She grimaced and realized that her balance was flailing. Karen's legs soon gave way. She was about to hit the carpeted floor before Loki caught her head. She fainted in his arms, beads of sweat now sprawled across her forehead.

Loki swiped them away and grunted as he picked her up and put her back in bed. He stood there for a moment, looking at Karen's limp form. Loki turned his head and looked at his reflection on the mirror that was placed on her night stand. His eyes flickered between green and blue, fighting to see what the dominant color was. Loki shut his eyes tight and opened them again, seeing that emerald was the victor.

He glanced back at Karen and saw her fists clenching and her eyes close tighter. Loki went over her and cupped her forehead with his hands and pulled her closer to him so that their foreheads touched. He closed his eyes and murmured, "_Ad Pacem*_."

He felt Karen calm down gradually and her breathing evened out. He placed Karen's head back on her pillow carefully. Loki sat back on the settee and held Karen's hand.

"I'm not the only one then," Loki muttered under his breath, not leaving his gaze on Karen. Realizing he still had Karen's hand in his, he let go and stared at his hands. He clutched his chest and gulped, looking past Karen and to the window that held a glimpse of the peaceful city.

With the image of peace stuck in his mind, he clutched his head tightly curled forward. "No, Loki. Don't let it in. Don't let it in," he whimpered quietly as Karen slept soundly.

* English Translation: Be At Peace*

* * *

**AN: **Short, I know. The next chapter is going to be a bit longer.

Loki seems a little OCC at the end, doesn't he? He's this way for a reason. It's just up to you guys to guess if he's doing this on purpose or because of her. I'd like to ponder on both.


	6. Read My Mind

_un-edited_

Marvel's rights.

This chapter's title is based on The Killer's Read My Mind.

* * *

**Chapter Six: Read My Mind**

Karen opened her eyes. It was dark outside. The last time she was awake, it was early dawn, so she must have slept throughout the whole day. She rubbed her eyes and blinked the sleep away. Karen scratched her numb head and sat up to look around the darkened room.

Her eyes stopped at a sleeping Loki, a fond smile tugging at her lips. For a God of Mischief, she had to admit he was quite adorable when he wasn't trying to kill her. She frowned suddenly, shaking her head away from the thought. Her mission was still in motion, she couldn't get distracted now. A pang of guilt poked at her heart on the thought of the mission. With that, she remembered the promise she had made to Thor.

He relied on her to save his little brother and it was her job to stop him from causing any more pain. But toying with one's emotions to do so didn't feel right. Before getting off the bed, she glanced at Loki, a hurt look growing on her face.

"I'm so sorry," she muttered.

Karen jumped off the bed and made for her closet to change into more comfortable attire since she had been wearing the same clothes for almost two days. After changing into a pair of black sweats and a green hoodie, she walked out of her flat. She stopped at the front steps and swiftly grabbed the metal ladder attached to the side of the wall. She climbed up until she reached the top of the flat. Karen then laid down on the tiled roof and put her hands behind her head, gazing at the stars.

Karen slowly lifted her right hand to her face and observed her wrist. The rush of energy she usually saw in her veins was flickering, but still present. It was probably because of Loki tampering with her mind.

Karen sighed. She decided she didn't want to risk the safety of herself or her enemy, so teleporting back to the Helicarrier wasn't an option for her that night. But Karen didn't mind. These rare moments where she actually felt normal were the moments she cherished the most. To her, being normal was one of those things she never knew she missed until it was gone, along with her parents, innocence, and sense of morality.

Her head glanced to where the ladder was when she heard clanging against the metal. Loki's contorted face popped up and the rest of his body followed. Loki was still dressed as an Asgardian and Karen wondered how tiring it must be to carry 50% of your body weight in leather. He climbed off the ladder and walked to where Karen laid.

"Out of all the places you could have teleported, why go here?" Loki grumbled as he sat next to Karen, looking at the Midgardian night sky.

Karen cocked an eyebrow at him, "Look at who's talking. Out of all the places _you_ could have brought me, it was back home."

Loki smiled smugly and laid down next to Karen, one of his hands on his stomach and the other behind his head. "Back when I was sifting through your thoughts, I went to the first place that was in your mind. In truth, I was about to dispose of you then and there in the main hall of your home, but I felt merciful. I didn't want to stain your clean carpet," Loki muttered.

Karen chuckled softly as her gaze was glued on the sky above, focusing on Sirius; the brightest star in the night sky. "Well, escaping from you won't be an option for me for quite a while. You kind of mucked up my powers a little," she said, smiling when she heard Loki's chuckles.

"A little?"

Karen laughed some, "Okay, not really. But I still can't teleport for now thanks to you."

Loki's amused smiled disappeared and looked at Karen's still amused face in a worrisome expression. "I truly am sorry for that. Sincerely, I am. The tactic I used was quite powerful and even I had suffered part of the consequences in casting such a trick," Loki apologized, rubbing his temples from the severe headache he had to endure the moment they arrived in her flat.

Karen looked at Loki's face questioningly, "Is that why you stayed; because your powers had weakened from trying to use mine?"

Loki averted his gaze from Karen's and pursed his lips.

Karen's eyes furrowed, awaiting the god's answer.

"… Yes," Loki finally answered, now observing the stars around them. "You Midgardians have quite a star system," he said, trying to change the subject. "Nothing like Asgard's, but still, quite impressive," he murmured under his breath, taking in every shining object in the night sky.

Karen smiled and looked along with Loki. "Careful, your eyes can be deceived when you're here on Earth. It's pitiful that our atmosphere has already been polluted by Man's hand."

"Can't you do anything about it? Surely with your powers-,"

"Humanity as a whole is stubborn and doesn't like admitting their faults and that those faults exist. When they do, they make a big deal about it and either try to make a cause in which it won't contribute any real help for the problem at _all_, or just sit there on their arses and grumble about how horrible life is. But as for I, I'm neither of those."

"Then what are you?" Loki asked, raising his eyebrows expectantly towards her.

"I'm the one who endures their faults for them. I'm the one who endures the pain _they_ had caused even if they are the ones who truly deserve it, just for the sake of shutting them up and leaving me alone," Karen muttered, full seriousness on her face. It soon contorted in a pain as her mind flooded with all that she had endured her whole life.

Loki couldn't imagine all that she had gone through. True, he had gone through his share of traumatic experiences himself, but he couldn't imagine what sort of situations this mortal found herself in. All he knew about her past was based on hearing Barton's accounts of Karen. "Was your life as traumatic as Barton said they were?"

"It depends on how much he had told you."

"He told me everything he knew about you."

Karen glanced at Loki, when she felt his now emerald eyes looking back at her, "Then you don't know the half of it."

Loki furrowed his eyebrows, making Karen glare at Loki.

"Do you know exactly what triggers my Post Traumatic Stress Disorder? It's my whole existence on this world. My whole life has literally been nothing but pain and suffering and lies. And the worst thing was, I had to endure it all alone," Karen muttered in monotone. She sighed and took off her hood to spread her hair out on the roof. "Let the Green Day lyrics commence," she muttered with a smirk.

A small smile showed on Loki's face until he faced Karen once more. "Whatever you've gone through, whatever you had endured… just know that I don't care about that," Loki said with all seriousness on his face.

"Wow, what a gentleman you are," Karen grumbled, turning on her back and facing away from Loki.

"You misunderstood what I meant," Loki chuckled, getting Karen to turn around and rest her head on her arm. "I don't care about the pain and hardship you endured in the past because it's in the past. Now if you were in pain and hardship right now, then that's a different story."

Karen snickered a bit and looked at him, a slight smile on her face. Even if this was all unreal, she let herself believe for a moment that it was; that this sadistic immortal had the audacity to try and understand how she felt. But of course, it wasn't. Not from how she saw it anyway. No one could understand what she went through and how it felt. But Loki did.

"So if I _were_ in great peril _now_, how would the story be different?" Karen asked, cocking her eyebrows up questioningly.

"If I didn't know any better, it'd be by my hand. But I do. And I do not wish to anger someone as rambunctious as you," Loki murmured with a sly smile.

Karen shoved him playfully, "Am I really _that_ unruly?"

"You scare me sometimes, you know," Loki joked. He placed crossed his hands behind his head and took a deep breath.

Karen smiled and laid on her back once more, staring at the seemingly vast eternity above. _"Stjernene skinner den lyseste til de som de ønsker å skinne på,"_ she muttered under her breath. "You know what that means. Don't you?"

Loki looked at Karen, surprised she knew such proverb. Translated, it meant: _'Stars shine the brightest to those they want to shine upon.'_ "Where'd you learn that?" he asked.

"My father always told me this. To think that an advanced biochemist would be talking about astronomy to his child," Karen murmured, chuckling in spite of herself. "But now that I think of it, he might not have been referring to astronomy."

"Shouldn't you be flailing in pain right now at the thought of your father?" Loki asked, clearing his throat and looking around with a confused look as he tried to ponder over what Karen had just said.

"There's a difference between knowing something and remembering something. And now that you've reminded of my murdered father…" Karen said, sitting up and gritting her teeth.

"Alright, alright, my apologies," Loki said quickly, putting his hands up in mock surrender when she glared at him. "But why in Norse?"

Karen shrugged and ruffled her hair. "I don't know. I knew for a fact he was way too Scottish to be anything else… Mum loved him for that." She pursed her lips and checked her wrist before looking at Loki. She took a deep breath and released it through her nostrils. With that, she laid down once more to look at the sky above.

Loki pursed his lips as well and glanced at Karen. Under the stars, her eyes weren't hazel. Her hair wasn't auburn and her skin wasn't the cold pale he shared. In that moment, she wasn't just another mortal to be dealt with. She was a person, who had feelings and had gone through pain just as he had.

His master was right, she _has _changed him. And whether it'd be for better or for worse, he had just damned the both of them. Whatever this mortal had done to him, it was working because now, he had just fallen in love.

* * *

**AN: **And so the god fell in love with the mortal who is technically more or less a god... And now the weather.

In the last chapter, I _did_ say it was going to be a bit longer. But with writer's block and other things I needed to finish, here is what I have produced. This scene was harder to write than I thought.


	7. Improbability at Its Finest

_un-edited_

Marvel's Rights

* * *

**Chapter Seven: Improbability at Its Finest**

"Ceiran Vidkardittir, you have done us proud, child," a familiar voice growled.

Karen looked up, realizing her whole body was strapped onto a dentist's chair. Her mouth was covered by a metal gag. As she struggled to free herself from the leather straps she was trapped in, she looked around the room she was in. It was more of a prison cell than an actual room. The only form of light in the cell was emitting from a lamp on top of her.

A dark figure formed in front of her. She tried to look at the silhouette as the figure became clearer.

Karen soon made out wisps of soft auburn hair covering soft blue eyes. The image became sharper and soon, she made out the face of her mother the day she died. Amelia looked towards her caringly as she reached out to stroke her daughter's face.

"Mum?" Karen whimpered behind the gag as she struggled to free herself from the chair.

"My daughter, I am so sorry. I am so sorry you had to suffer so much because of me. My sweet and darling Karen; I will always love you," she murmured comfortingly before disappearing like smoke.

"Mum! No, this isn't your fault, Mum! None of this was ever your fault!" Karen tried to cry out as another figure appeared before her.

This time, it was the imaged of her Uncle George the day he died alongside her mother. His dirty blond hair, light hazel eyes, and Roman nose greeted his niece. The image smiled brightly as he ruffled Karen's hair jokingly. "How's my little detective," he said, his smile quivering to a sympathetic look. "I wish I could've given you that deerstalker hat when I could," he chuckled awkwardly and pursed his lips. With that, he disappeared like a wisp of smoke.

Tears streamed down Karen's face when he disappeared. She still remembered the day the police confronted her to inform her that they were both dead. They died because of a car malfunction on their way to pick something up in Greenwich. The worst thing was that she didn't have anyone or anything to blame their deaths on, so all Karen could do was blame herself for their deaths ever since. She was only six to have felt the burden of their deaths carried upon her shoulders.

A few moments later, another form took shape in front of her. This was the worst of them all. With dark auburn hair and bright grey-blue eyes, he smiled at his daughter. Victor Thames cupped the side of her daughters face and wiped the tears away. His smiled disappeared along with his skin, hair, and eyes. Dark blue replaced his pinkish tinted skin. His hair became white blonde and his eyes became bloodshot red.

"I vowed to protect you; to have a normal life," he muttered to her in a hurt tone. "Please forgive me; I cannot change who you really are."

Karen's eyes widened as she saw her own skin turning the same shade of color as her father's. She looked at the thin wisps of hair that covered her face and realized it had turned raven black. She glanced at her father again before he too disappeared.

"FATHER!" Karen screamed, muffled by the gag on her mouth.

Her breathing quickened and her heart beat raced. She shut her eyes tight to stop any more tears streaming down her cheeks. She wanted to break everything in that room she was in right now. She wanted to scream and curse everyone that had ruined her life. She wanted to curse her mother and uncle for dying. She wanted to curse her father for never being there and dying at the moment she truly needed him. She wanted to curse herself for having the misfortune to ever live this kind of life.

"Now here comes the fun part," the same voice from before whispered into her ear. She moved her head to follow the sound of the voice as the body of the voice appeared before her; two bodies, as a matter of fact.

The first form was the woman who brought her in after Karen ran away. The second one was the man who helped raise her; both of them being the brother and sister psychopaths she never knew existed until they gave her the damned serum.

They both had the blue skin and red eyes her father had moments before. The woman's hair was the same white blonde as her father's as the man's hair was just a darker shade of brown. They sneered at Karen as she continued to struggle within the straps of the chair.

"This is going to be _so _much fun- For us, mainly, but nonetheless… fun," the brother said childishly, articulating each letter in the last word carefully.

"Oh my dear Ceiran, win us a realm or two will you?" the sister said with a slight malicious smile. With that, she took out a syringe filled with bubbling blue liquid from the inside of her coat pocket.

Karen's eyes widened and shook her head. "No, no, no…," she whimpered as the needle touched her forearm.

"Let's have a little fun, shall we Bartol?"

"Just get on with it, Vidkun! The suspense is killing me!" Bartol exclaimed excitedly as he clasped his hands together.

A mischievous smile grew on Vidkun's face as she entered the needle in Karen's body. Karen thrashed around the chair in pain as Vidkun entered the serum into her system. If she didn't have a gag covering her mouth, the whole world would have heard her pain by now.

Karen shut her eyes tightly and instead of the hazel eyes she once had, her eye colour changed in rapid speed. Her breathing quickened and her mind felt as if it were about to explode. Her skin burned as if millions of poison darts were constantly poking her all at once. She arched her back as another wave of pain rolled across her body as pure energy seeped in through her blood and mind. Her eyes rolled back and her body started shaking uncontrollably.

The objects in the tiny cell slowly started to levitate. Within a few moments, her head burst with millions of voices screaming in her mind.

"Shut up!" her mind cried out. Karen shut her eyes as millions upon millions of voices spoke all at once, never stopping, never getting any quieter. They never shut up.

Karen's chest heaved up and down as sweat poured down her face. Bartol chuckled before grabbing her by the neck.

"Do us a favor, Ceiran, and tell the God of Mischief for us to just give up already because Midgard is ours!" he cackled maniacally as he snapped her neck and everything went dark.

* * *

Karen screamed and jerked awake as Loki grabbed her by the shoulders.

"Are you alright?" he asked her, a worried expression in his tone. As he looked at her, his eyes fought between blue and green, green soon being the victor.

Karen's breathing didn't calm any sooner as her heart continued to pound behind her ribs. She hugged herself as she wheezed for breath. She shook uncontrollably. She has never had this dream before and did not wish to experience that again.

Karen looked at Loki who was still worrying over her. Her breathing slowed down just for his sake. She gave him a small assuring smile and took his hands off of her shoulders. But Loki didn't let go of her hand. Karen sighed. She shut her eyes and decided to lie back down only to realize they were still on the roof.

It was early in the morning and dew had appeared around the two during dawn. The fog was as thick as it could ever be in Glasgow, but Karen made out the streets and flats around them as the town started to wake up.

"Why are you still here? More importantly, why are we still on the roof?" Karen asked as she rubbed her head. She sat back up as Loki followed suit.

"Well…," Loki said, trying to think of a way to make what he was about to say less odd than it should be. "I _was_ about to leave, but then you started turning… blue."

"Wha- what are you talking about?" Karen asked, her grip on his hand getting tighter by the thought of the dream in which the same exact thing happened.

Loki looked at her confusedly, "I was about to leave when I heard you whimpering. After that, you- are you a Frost Giant?"

Karen squinted at him as if he were crazy when a tiny pebble landed on her legs. "What the bloody…," she scrambled to the edge of the roof to see a certain Scot she grew fond of like a sister the day she moved in her flat.

"Karen?" Kate Lee Walker called out on the roof, crossing her arms as she squinted at Karen.

"Kate!" Karen responded, swinging her legs casually at the edge of the roof.

Kate chuckled, "When did you come back from America? I thought you weren't coming back till April."

Karen shrugged, "Well, I decided to visit good old Glasgow is all."

Loki crawled up next to Karen and saw who she was talking to. The girl named Kate Lee Walker was a light haired brunette with trickster-like brown eyes that was always twinkling with amusement.

She smiled up at the two, "I heard a lot of shuffling on the roof last night and I couldn't get a shut eye at all! Have you two been busy up there?"

Karen's eyes widened as she jumped down from the roof. She landed on her feet and looked at Kate face to face. "No!" she said defensively.

Kate smirked and crossed her arms. "What's his name?"

"Erm… Luke," Karen coughed as Loki looked down upon the two friends curiously.

Kate nodded slowly and puckered her lips, as if processing the information. She smacked her lips and placed her hands inside her back pockets. "Why does he look and dress like that guy in Germany?" she whispered to Karen.

Karen pursed her lips and placed an arm around her shoulder, turning Kate around. Kate turned her head around to glance at the overly confused Loki, but turned her head back to face Karen. "I don't blame you. He's looks okay," Kate whispered, giving Karen a mischievous smirk.

Karen rolled her eyes and shoved Kate off. "Where's Holly?"

"She's taking her finals this month, so she hasn't been home lately. It's been really lonely over here without you guys," Kate said, shrugging at Karen's sympathetic look. She breathed in deeply and perked up, "_That's_ why I'm going to the pie shop down the street; been going there ever since you left and Holly moved out for the time being."

Karen grinned and shoved Kate's arm, "Do you mean that pie shop with that cute pie maker that you've been googly eyeing since they moved down the street?"

Kate glared at Karen and shoved her playfully once more as Kate ruffled her hair and walked off. While walking away, she turned around and saluted Karen with two fingers. "Nice hair by the way; black suits you so much better than auburn," she called out before continuing her walk to the pie shop down the street.

Karen's eyes widened as she grabbed some strands of her hair and shoved them in front of her eyesight. They were pitch black, as if all the life in her hair was sucked out and replaced with pitch black ink. Loki climbed down the metal ladder from the side of the wall and walked to Karen

"It's black," she said out of breath, quite in disbelief that her used-to-be auburn hair was replaced with this hue. "Why is it black?"

"Maybe it was because when you dropped your Aesir form the other night and showed your form as a Jotun, your hair stayed the color it was when you become one," Loki inferred matter-of-factly, putting his hands behind his back.

Karen glared at him, "I'm human. Always have been, always will be." She combed her hair with her fingers and trudged to the front door of her own flat. She opened the door leaned on the door frame, staring at Loki with crossed arms. "Get in; I don't want people tailing up my arse because of you having the spitting image of the man in Germany who overpowered them in a moment of idiocy," Karen said, waiting for him to come in. "Nice speech, by the way."

"Is that just another way of welcoming me to your lovely home?" Loki asked with his eyebrows arched up in questioning.

"Shut up," she growled as she shut the door closed behind Loki. "We're having breakfast. Then we're going shopping. We need to get a disguise for you if you're going to stay here any longer."

Loki smiled as Karen grumpily grabbed a box of cereal from the cabinets and two bowls. She gave him a spoon and a cup of milk before munching on her share of the cereal. While she munched, Loki looked at her with a slight fondness that he had never showed to anyone.

Karen noticed his wary gaze and said with a full mouth, "What?"

"Nothing," Loki lied smoothly as he took his first bite of sustenance for the day.

Karen continued chewing; grinning at the way Loki tried to not smile at her. Eventually, they sat there with their mouths full of cereal, grinning at each other as if there were not a care in the world. If things weren't as hectic as it truly is; he would very well have accepted a life like this with her rather than undergo the promise he needed to full fill to a certain master of his.

* * *

**AN:** The chapter itself is highly improbable and very unrealistic. But alas, this _is_ a metafiction of two made-up characters in a totally made-up universe that some people (including myself) choose to believe _is_ real to an extent.

Anyway, the part of the chapter before line is Karen's dream in which I make an attempt with PTSD dreaming. I myself do not have PTSD, so I am not familiar with writing about having those kinds of dreams. So please forgive me if I have offended any of you PTSD victims out there reading my story.

Basically, I tried to make a nightmare in which _some_ of Karen's traumatic experiences are all jumbled in one. Now those were just a small fragment of what she had to endure in her past, so during the course of the story, I will try and integrate the rest.

As for the two OCs mentioned in this chapter, they are my two bestest friends in the whole wide world!- But of course they are portrayed by different people because of various reasons, so Kate is played by Lee Yeon Hee and Holly is played by Jeon So Min. They are not just fill in characters, I guarantee you guys that. But that's all you're getting from me for now...


	8. What I've Done

_un-edited_

Marvel's rights.

* * *

**Chapter Eight: What I've Done**

"Here, take this," Karen said as she threw a plain black t-shirt to Loki.

Loki caught it and examined the shirt, "Why do you have this in your possession if it's too big for you?"

"When I get too lazy, I just slip that on," Karen replied, looking through her closet. "I left most of my clothes back in the Helicarrier, so I guess you're not the only one shopping for some new clothes." She grabbed a pair of white jeans, a simple Blink 182 t-shirt, and a tattered jean vest. "Put the shirt on and we're leaving," she told him, slamming the bathroom door shut.

Loki stood in Karen's bedroom, clutching the shirt in his grasp. He sighed and waved his hand, making his coat and leather vest disappear. Loki stood there, shirtless with nothing but his pants and boots. He put on the black shirt, surprised at how light it was. Though he wasn't used to the light article of clothing, it was comfortable. He certainly was glad to lighten the weight.

Karen came out with the clothing she wore earlier in her arms. She tossed them on an empty bin near the side of the door and grabbed a wallet. Without S.H.I.E.L.D.'s budget at her disposal, she would have to use her own money. Karen then walked out her bedroom door, followed by Loki. They then walked out the entrance and down stairs into the street.

"There's a TK-Maxx store down the street, we don't need a cab," Karen said, putting a pair of shades on.

Loki walked beside her with his arms behind his back. "Why are you so willing to help me?"

"I'm not helping you, I'm protecting you and saving myself," she said as she kept her gaze to the front.

Loki smirked and looked at Karen as she kept a serious face on. "Why _are_ you protecting, is the question," he said with an eyebrow arched up.

Karen stopped in her tracks and took off her sunglasses. She turned to face Loki, a wary expression on her face. "Look, I truly do appreciate you bringing me home. But what you also brought home is the danger _we_ might face if people found out you're here," Karen explained.

"But who are you protecting me from? S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

"The world," she answered. True, S.H.I.E.L.D. was probably tracking them down by now, but knowing about the plan, Fury would be calling off the rescue call for a while. But if the police get a hold of them, not only will Loki be in danger, but herself as well.

Loki looked at her confusedly. He tilted his head as Karen started walking again.

"Bad guys aren't the only people they target their missiles at. As long as they sense a potential threat, they'll bombard you with nukes and lasers," Karen muttered. "That is, of course, after they dissect your body like a frog in biology class."

Loki caught up with Karen as they made a turn and entered the sliding doors into the vast building filled with the racks and shelves filled with clothing, cosmetics, etc. Karen cleared her throat and took Loki by the arm, which took him by the utmost surprise.

"I usually just buy my things from the internet, but that would take time with shipping and all. Let's get you some shirts first; accessories would be the last on our check list," she informed Loki as she dragged him to the Men's Department in the second floor.

Loki chuckled as they ran to get him a disguise.

* * *

"Did you see his face?" Loki laughed as he and Karen carried the bags of clothing and set it on the couch nearest the front door.

Karen chuckled as she tossed her wallet to the side and laid down the couch with her knees propped up. "Normal people are so adorable," she murmured with a small smile.

Loki kneeled down near the couch, resting his chin on his arms and a pout on his face. Karen sighed turned around to face him, their faces just inches away from each other.

"What happens after this?" he muttered.

Karen shrugged, "I don't know." She rested her head on her elbow, "I have a question for you."

"Yes?" Loki replied, giving her a small smile even with a dismal look on his face.

"Your eyes are constantly fighting between green and blue. Why?"

"You," Loki answered.

Karen scrunched her eyebrows in confusion as he continued, "I know… I know I have done wrong. But now I've gotten too far and I cannot stop what I've already started. My master senses what small ounce of morality I have left and he wishes to extinguish it."

"Are you talking about the war?"

"If I wasn't blinded by my jealousy of Thor and hatred towards the All-Father, none of this would have ever happened. If I could, I'd go back and wash away all that I've done," Loki said. "But then again, I wouldn't have met you."

Karen winced. She didn't tell him this, but when she attempted to break in his mind back in the cell, she saw herself in him. She felt all the pain and regret he felt in his own past life. And if he found out about her true motive, he would truly break, just as how she would if she were in his shoes. The last string would snap and all hope of saving him would be useless.

"Loki," Karen said under her breath. She sat up and made room for Loki as he sat next to her. "Emotions make it harder to say goodbye. If you speak the truth, the next time we see each other is not as friend or allies. We'd be expected to kill each other till there's a victor, or until someone _wins_ the war."

Loki sighed as he bent down to rest his elbows on his knees. He looked up at Karen, a hopeless expression on his face as he pondered over the idea as well. He kept his gaze on the floor as he muttered, "I'd still have to go."

"Why? You're already fighting him for control over _your_ _own_ mind. Surely the connection between you and your master have been cut off somehow," Karen retorted.

Loki covered his face with his hands, "He doesn't care if he can speak to me or not. If I don't give him the Tesseract, he'll torture me for life. And now that he knows about you, he'll do so to you too."

"Why me?"

Loki shot up and screamed, "You are important to me and he knows that even when I doubted the truth right in front of me!" He breathed in short, quick breaths as he looked at Karen in hopelessness. "Because of my feelings towards you, you'll die! Whether you'll return them or not, I've just as well as killed you."

Karen stood up and cupped his face, bringing him into a hug. "But I'm already dead," she whispered in his ear. She pulled away and looked at his surprised expression. "Not even Banner has managed to put up with me for this long. You're a good man and I understand why you've done all those things, even if I don't really agree with most of them."

"Most?" Loki asked with breathy chuckle.

"I don't hate you. Just, let me save you from yourself while there's still something left to save," she said, smiling up at him. "Then maybe we can run a way and start again. We never really had a choice anyway."

Loki sighed in relief and rested his forehead on hers. She wrapped her arms around his neck. Loki brought her closer into his embrace and Karen felt the smile showing on his expression. "Did you expect something like this to ever happen? To stay in the same vicinity with misfit like me?" he asked.

"I wouldn't know the difference. I'm a misfit myself," Karen said, pulling away far enough for her to look at him. And for a moment, this was all real. It was never a mission to be accomplished. But she wanted this moment to last a while longer. So she pulled away from his embrace and grabbed his hand. "Let's just forget about the war for a moment. Let's forget that S.H.I.E.L.D. ever existed or that your master is alive. Where would you want to go if all that was real?" she asked him as she dragged him out of the flat.

"I don't know… Oh, you mentioned something about 'pies' to your friend in the morning. I've never tried one before," Loki said as he walked beside her, hand in hand.

"You've _never_ tried one before?" Karen asked him as she leaned against his shoulder. She paused for a moment to bring out her shades and shoved them on Loki's face. "Let's just stay with this form of disguise for now."

* * *

**AN: **This chapter's title is based on Linkin Park's song: What I've Done. It also has some references from Savior by Rise Against, in which the whole story is based off of.

Hmm... so Koki (my ship name for them) is getting somewhere, aren't they? Ehehehehe, Moffat will be on my side when I finish this story.


End file.
